LONDON: Mohammed Siraj was inspired as India took the last four wickets in under an hour to bowl England out for 367 and win an astonishing fifth Test by six runs to draw a remarkable series 2-2 on Monday.

England had resumed on 339-6 in an atmosphere of unremitting tension at The Oval and a fired-up Siraj dismissed Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton before bowling Gus Atkinson to complete his five-wicket-haul.

After Prasidh Krishna had bowled Josh Tongue for nought, Chris Woakes walked out to bat wearing a sling to protect his dislocated shoulder with 17 runs still needed.

Atkinson hit Siraj for six to give England brief hope and cleverly protected Woakes from the strike, but player-of-the-match Siraj, who finished with figures of 5-104, produced another brilliant yorker to earn India their narrowest-ever Test win.

“With 60, 70-odd runs to win with seven wickets in hand you don’t get to see many games like this,” India captain Shubman Gill said. “Very happy to get this over the line, a little bit of luck for us. When you have got bowlers bowling a spell like Siraj, captaincy seems easy.”

The series was also a personal triumph for Gill, who scored 754 runs, including four hundreds.

England, 301-3 at one stage, lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs, a collapse prompted by Harry Brook’s reckless dismissal after he had made a superb century.

India suddenly had a chink of hope and they took full advantage, removing Jacob Bethell and Joe Root (105) before bad light and rain ended the fourth day early.

England still needed 35 runs to complete their second-highest Test run chase and by far the largest for any team on this ground.

The Oval was full for the final act of a series that fluctuated wildly over seven weeks, and under grey skies one of the most dramatic Test endings duly played out — a fitting finale to a series played out in less than seven weeks packed with drama from the first ball.

Overton hit the first two balls of the day off Krishna for four to immediately ease the pressure but the lion-hearted Siraj, who featured in every match, struck with his third ball on Monday to have a nervous Smith caught behind, leaving England 347-7.

Overton fell next, lbw for nine to a Siraj delivery that angled into the batsman.

Siraj, appropriately, wrapped up the match to spark delirious scenes among the India team and their supporters.

“It has been one of the all-time best Test matches,” England coach Brendon McCullum said. “We turned up today with high hopes, but Mohammed Siraj and the passion of the Indian boys was too strong and ultimately they deserve to win this Test match. We had our chances, we will look back on our dropped catches and the position we were in with the bat.”

It was fitting that Siraj was India’s hero because he had stepped over the boundary cushion on Sunday after catching Brook on 19, an error that looked likely to cost his team the match.

“From day one to here, everyone fought so hard so we are very happy, “Siraj said. “I just wanted to make sure I hit the right areas, the wickets would fall, and anything else would be a bonus. When I woke up I believed I could do it.”

Woakes was the not out batsman having not faced a ball but running bravely in obvious pain.

“I didn’t expect him to come out like that, batting with one hand. Kudos to him,” Gill said after his team did a lap of honour.

Tensions flared on the pitch several times during the series, but the India players commiserated with Woakes at the end and both teams shook hands and embraced warmly before leaving the arena.

“There are always emotions shown in the match, but at the end there is respect and admiration for your opponent,” Gill said.

“Both teams played magnificently in the series and I enjoyed every bit of it.”

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (1st Innings) 224 (K. Nair 57; G. Atkinson 5-33)

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 247 (Z. Crawley 64, H. Brook 53; P Krishna 4-62, M Siraj 4-86)

INDIA (2nd Innings) 396 (Y. Jaiswal 118, A. Deep 66; J. Tongue 5-125)

ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 339-6):

Z. Crawley b Siraj 14

B. Duckett c Rahul b Krishna 54

O. Pope lbw b Siraj 27

J. Root c Jurel b Krishna 105

H. Brook c Siraj b Deep 111

J. Bethell b Krishna 5

J. Smith c Durel b Siraj 2

J. Overton lbw b Siraj 9

G. Atkinson b Siraj 17

J. Tongue b Krishna 0

C. Woakes not out 0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-9, NB-1, W-11) 23

TOTAL (all out, 85.1 overs) 367

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50 (Crawley), 2-82 (Duckett), 3-106 (Pope), 4-301 (Brook), 5-332 (Bethell), 6-337 (Root), 7-347 (Smith), 8-354 (Overton), 9-357 (Tongue)

BOWLING: Deep 20-4-85-1 (1nb, 2w), Krishna 27-3-126-4 (1w), Siraj 30.1-6-104-5, Sundar 4-0-19-0, Jadeja 4-0-22-0

RESULT: India won by six runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Mohammed Siraj

SERIES: Five-match series ends level at 2-2.

ENGLAND PLAYER-OF-THE-SERIES: Harry Brook

INDIA PLAYER-OF-THE-SERIES: Shubman Gill

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2025